The invention relates generally to the marketing of cotton and, more particularly, to computer-implemented systems and methods for facilitating electronic commerce in cotton employing a database of bale identifications and associated fiber quality data.
Electronic commerce in cotton is known and currently practiced, with well-accepted advantages. One example of a system, implemented by Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, in Lubbock, Tex., is disclosed in Lindsey et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,383. In addition, the Staple Cotton Cooperative Association, headquartered in Greenwood, Miss., is currently engaged in electronic commerce of cotton employing a database.
Currently, whether cotton is subject to electronic commerce or not, harvested cotton is brought to a cotton gin. The gin processes the cotton, including removing seeds. Near the end of the process, the cotton enters a bale press, where the ginned cotton is compressed into bales. Each bale of cotton has dimensions of approximately 2×3×5 feet (60×90×150 cm), and a net weight of approximately 480 pounds (220 kg). Each bale is tagged with a Permanent Bale Identification (PBI) number, employing bar code technology, and then transported to a warehouse, or other storage facility.
Before the cotton can be marketed, the fiber quality must be measured. Cotton fiber quality is currently measured, or classified, by comparing either human or instrumental measurements of unknown samples to observations of or measurements on so-called cotton standards. Valuations of the cotton commodity, in transactions between willing sellers and willing buyers, typically either on a bale-by-bale basis or in fifty- to one hundred-bale lots, depend upon these classing measurements. Similarly, allocations and shipments and, ultimately, utilizations, depend upon these human and instrumental measurements of fiber qualities.
Thus, at the gin's bale press or, in some cases, at an on-site or off-site warehouse, samples are cut from two sides of each bale and are sent to a classing office (actually, a laboratory) to measure the fiber quality for purposes mentioned just above. These samples are referred to herein as bale classing samples. In the United States, the quality of a producer's cotton is determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS). The USDA classing offices employ High Volume Instruments (HVIs) to measure the fiber qualities known as Micronaire, Length, Strength and Color. Human classer “measurements” are typically employed for the fiber quality known as Trash. In the United States, there are approximately eleven USDA classing offices, to which about 17,000,000 bale samples are sent for classing each year.
Cotton is an important commodity in world trade, and is bought and sold on the basis of US cents/pound for given fiber qualities. Fiber qualities are determined by cotton classing. Cotton classing in other countries typically uses USDA standard materials for both instrumental and human measurements, but the parties responsible for the classing function vary widely from country to country.
Accordingly, there is an inherent delay, typically around four days (two days for sample transportation, and two days for laboratory turnaround), between when a bale is produced at the gin and when fiber quality data are available so the bale can be marketed. This is so even in the cases of the electronic commerce systems implemented by Plains Cotton Cooperative Association and Staple Cotton Cooperative Association mentioned above. One adverse result of this delay is that physically relatively large warehouse and storage areas must be located at cotton gins or elsewhere in order to absorb (in effect, buffer) bales after they are made up but before their fiber qualities are known.
Moreover, since the fiber qualities of bales are not known prior to being transported to warehouses, bales having similar fiber qualities, and likely subsequently to be purchased as a lot once the fiber quality has been determined, are frequently scattered randomly about the warehouse or storage area. Later, when a lot of bales having similar fiber qualities is to be assembled for delivery to a buyer, a substantial and time-consuming effort may be devoted to physically locating and selecting the individual bales. Currently, it can cost US $5.00 or more per bale for random retrieval to locate and pick up a particular bale. A related adverse result of the delay in the availability of fiber quality data is that it is difficult for bales leaving the bale press and being transported to the warehouse or other storage facility to be designated for a particular buyer.